The Impacts of Outbreaks on External Trade and Macroeconomic Structure: The Case of Covid-19 Pandemic in Turkey


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Balkanlı A. O.

in: CORONALOGY: Multidisciplinary Academic Analysis in Perspective of Covid-19 CORONALOGY: Multidisciplinary Academic Analysis in Perspective of Covid-19, Sefer Darıcı and Ayşe Meriç Yazıcı, Editor, Walter de Gruyter, Inc. , Little-Harbour, pp.197-218, 2020

  • Publication Type: Book Chapter / Chapter Research Book
  • Publication Date: 2020
  • Publisher: Walter de Gruyter, Inc.
  • City: Little-Harbour
  • Page Numbers: pp.197-218
  • Editors: Sefer Darıcı and Ayşe Meriç Yazıcı, Editor
  • Istanbul University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

With the industrialization which started in the 1600s, the world economy moved towards the industrial sector and industrial production step by step from the classical agriculture-based economy that had existed for thousands of years. The increasing share of industrial production within the national income gradually revealed the services segment connected to the industrial sector. As the industrial sector developed and expanded over time, the services sector rapidly increased its share in the economy. When we look at today's economies, we can observe this development. It has also been observed that the services sector has an increasing rate of growth from the 1950s and beyond. In a sense, the services sector in economies has become a supportive sector for the industrial sector.

While this reality speaks of the growth and stability of the economies today, it is required to emphasize the growth and stability of the services sector along with the growth and stability of the industrial sector. When we talk about the services sector here, we have to consider not only the banking and finance sector, but also the small and medium-sized enterprises that dominate the whole economy. In a sense, it can be said that this section constitutes the sector directly facing the consumers in an economy. Although this segment varies according to the structure and development of economies, it forms weaker, undersized and small capital and more labor-based organizations than industry in most countries. With this aspect, such organizations have more social content and affect social-economic balances more.

When the world economy is analyzed in the historical context, the pandemic or other causes of crisis conditions refer to the periods in which the economies suffered great traumas. Obviously, this trauma means huge losses for these economies. However, the growth levels achieved for these economies are not an easy and rather difficult process. And their growth, in the context that they can bring about structural changes in these economies, means advancement in the path of economic development for these countries. In such a difficult and troublesome process, unusual and unavoidable pandemics and other causes of crises are evident, which explains the weakening of these economies. And this weakening may in some cases mean collapse for these economies.

With the Covid-19 Outbreak, significant changes have occurred in the whole economy. While these changes from production to consumption affect the life processes of society, they have also created serious problems in tradesmen workplaces. These problems meant the decrease or disappearance of work efficiency on one hand, and on the other hand, it meant the unemployment of both the employer and the workforce in these workplaces. In result, while countries’ economic growth rates decrease, people suffered serious unemployment and income problems. These developments are not limited to certain economies and every country had to live through these problems. In this article, it will be determined how and to what extent the crisis situations such as pandemic affect the conditions of world and especially in Turkey.